The Shawinigan Cataractes are hoping a chance to play for junior hockey’s biggest prize will be enough to keep Kirill Kabanov in North America.

The Memorial Cup hosts made a deal with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada to acquire the New York Islanders prospect, who was rumoured to be joining Färjestad of the Swedish Elite League.

He is expected to report to Shawinigan on the weekend.

With two import spots already taken, the Armada had no room for Kabanov, who has not played since being returned to junior by the Islanders over a week ago. His future has been in limbo ever since. Kabanov was seemingly the odd-man out in Blainville-Boisbriand. His rights were picked up by the Armada with the dispersal of the Lewiston MAINEiacs franchise, but with two imports already on the roster in the form of Ilya Nikolaev and Viktor Hertzberg, the Armada had no spot for Kabanov.